CV32

US Won’t Share Invasion Intel With Ukraine (Daily Beast)

9 April 1865 Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War.

Air Power Lessons from the Korean War (Defense Media Network)

Navy Has Finalized Specifications for New Ohio-Replacement Boomer (USNI News)

8 April 1940 During Operation Weserübung, and led by the Admiral Hipper class cruiser Blucher, a German flotilla steams into the Oslofjord under the cover of darkness, to seize the capital of Norway. Before dawn on the following day, two elderly 11 inch coastal guns at the Oscarsborg Fortress engaged and scored hits on Blucher at very close range. A pair of torpedoes from coastal based batteries also strike the ship. A resulting fire could not be contained and after an explosion in the magazines, Blucher capsized and sank with heavy loss of life. The city is ultimately captured by landed troops and airborne units, but the battle permits the Norwegian government and royal family to escape. The wreck of Blucher remains at the bottom of the Drøbak Narrows.

New Chinese Cruiser—Not as Big as We Thought (War is Boring)

Canada: No F-35 Buys Before 2018 (DefenseNews) About the best course of action that one could hope for at this point, imho.

China Lashes Out at North Korea (The Diplomat, Pacific Realist) China Kinda Hates North Korea (War is Boring) The argument is made that the deterioration of relations makes the DPRK even less predictable and stable.

Excellent! Thanks, Enrique.

Looks Like Chinas Building a Giant New Warship (War is Boring blog) First Iran and their wooden aircraft carrier. Now China and its 'son of Kirov'? Colour me skeptical.

7 April 1989 The sole Project 685 Plavnik (NATO 'Mike') class nuclear powered attack submarine K-278 Komsomolets is lost after a fire aboard the boat, sinking about 100 nm southwest of Bear Island in the Norwegian Sea.

More or less just a bug fix, as detailed in our notes on the release. No other news of consequence.

Russian buildup around Belgorod continues (Jane's)

4 April 1933 US Navy airship (and flying aircraft carrier) USS Akron (ZRS-4) is destroyed in a thunderstorm off the coast of New Jersey, killing 73 of the 76 persons aboard.

Syria's MiG-25s fly again (Jane's)

3 April 1944 During Operation Tungsten, aircraft from the Royal Navy's carriers HMS Furious and HMS Victorious launch a surprise attack against the German battleship Tirpitz at Kaafjord in southern Norway. Although caught without her protective screen of destroyers, and although suffering heavy casualties, the battleship itself was not badly damaged. She was repaired by mid July, but never sortied to attack Allied convoys, and was finally destroyed in November.

Its Time for a 'Sea Control' Frigate (Proceedings, April 2014 issue)

China S-400 deal moves forward (Jane's)

2 April 1982 Argentine forces come ashore around Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands.

You might have heard about this on AvWeek or elsewhere: Mystery aircraft photographed over Texas (Deep Blue Horizon blog)

31 March 1954 Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs V.M. Molotov makes a proposal to the Soviet Presidium that the USSR should join NATO. The proposal is rejected by Western representatives, as it required (among other things) that the USA be relegated to observer status.

Canada to Delay F-35 Decision Until After Next Federal Election (Defense Aerospace)

Looks like I have work to do. Thanks, Enrique.

From RUSI Analysis:

In military rout, Russia seizes 51 Ukrainian ships in Crimea (Kyiv Post)